Serrano survives first round

Saturday

Nov 17, 2007 at 12:01 AMNov 23, 2007 at 3:15 PM

By GERALD TANG / Staff Writer

PHELAN - That 10-0 regular season was fine and dandy, but it meant next to nothing come playoff time. It didn't even give the Serrano football team a favorable first-round matchup as the top seed in the CIF-Southern Section Eastern Division.

Instead, the Diamondbacks were challenged by Bloomington in their playoff opener, and they had to show the makeup of a championship contender: the ability to overcome injuries, match a physical opponent's intensity, rally from behind and win a close game.

Serrano did all of the above in a 24-22 victory Friday night at Snowline Stadium that set up a second-round date with Palm Desert next week.

"They never gave up, that's for sure," Serrano head coach Ray Maholchic said. "Being behind at halftime and having to come back and make some plays and playing a real physical ballgame, stepping up and getting a taste of what it's going to be like in the playoffs - I think that could be a blessing in disguise."

Every No. 1 team has to avoid getting ahead of itself, but it wasn't an issue for the Diamondbacks (11-0) when they found out their opponent would be the Bruins (6-5). The Sunkist League co-champions defeated three of the division's seeded teams this season.

The Bruins immediately showed their capabilities, taking over Serrano's home field in the first half with their double wing offense. But the last two quarters belonged to junior Cory Diederich, and that trusty Serrano defense delivered a final stand to stop the Bruins on a potential game-winning drive.

Diederich filled in for leading rusher Richy Alva, who was nursing a sprained ankle and should be ready for next week. The D'backs also lost standout defensive back Michael Moore for the year with a kidney injury suffered last week.

"I knew I was going to have to fill some huge shoes," Diederich said. "They're a big, tough team. They're really big. It was very tough playing against the big old linebackers they had."

After taking a hard hit, Diederich never found his bearings in the first half (nine carries, 23 yards). With the D'backs trailing 14-7 and perhaps only 24 minutes remaining in their season, Diederich ran like a man possessed.

Breaking tackle after tackle, he capped two long drives with touchdown runs and kicked a 34-yard field that turned out to be the margin of victory.

With three extra-point kicks, Diederich accounted for Serrano's final 18 points. He finished with 97 hard-earned yards on 28 carries.

"He definitely gets the game ball. He was a busy kid tonight," Maholchic said. "Cory at 100 percent is a much better player than Richy at 80. It was his turn to shine and he did it."

Meanwhile, the D'backs figured out a foolproof way to stop Bloomington's tricky offense. They didn't let them touch the ball.

The Bloomington offense did not take the field the entire third quarter as the D'backs recovered an onside kick and a muffed kickoff return.

Before every kickoff, Serrano's players sprint out of the huddle as if they are about to surprise the opponent. This time they actually went for an onside kick, and Trevor Van Rossum recovered. The D'backs later tried again but failed.

"We were having trouble stopping them," Maholchic said. "So what's another 20, 30 yards the way they were moving the ball?"

The strategy helped limit the Bruins to 52 yards of offense in the second half. They rolled up 169 yards in the first two quarters, 148 on the ground.

Still, Bloomington had a chance to drive for the winning score from their own 13-yard line with 3:01 remaining. Two rushing attempts were snuffed out by a swarm of Serrano tacklers. Sandwiched between was an incomplete pass.

With the home fans on their feet on fourth-and-8, Bruins receiver Jayson Allmond could not make a juggling, sliding catch.

"It was a game we could have won. I won't say should have won, but it's a game we could have won," said Bloomington head coach Don Markham, who was irate over a penalty that negated a touchdown just before halftime. "If they didn't get that call at the end of the half, that's the difference in the game."

The last time Serrano faced Bloomington was three years ago in the first round. The Diamondbacks went on to win the CIF championship.

"It's going to help. We have our confidence up," said quarterback Will Dyer, who completed 8 of 15 passes for 102 yards and a 15-yard touchdown to Dylan Kershaw. "We needed to come out hard in the second half. We just pulled it together."